Six villagers were killed and eight badly hurt when several hundred allegedly hired thugs descended on a village in northern China and clashed with local residents over a land dispute.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning when five busloads of men ransacked Shengyou village in Hebei province with hunting rifles, clubs, sharpened pipes and other weapons, Beijing News reported.
Land requisition has become one of China’s sharpest social issues with an increasing number of evicted people in both urban and rural regions accusing governments of illegal land grabs they say are enriching the ruling elite.
In China, all land is owned by the state, giving local officials tremendous powers over land use rights.
